Scootin Old Skool: The story of a man and his Vespa

When Orin O’Neill hits the highway on his Vespa PX 150, he has more fun than anyone in a car.

“Inside my helmet, I’m grinning ear to ear most of the time,” he said, standing by the jet-black beauty and muse behind his five-month-old blog, Scootin Old Skool.

Orin O’Neill on his PX 150

Even when he’s updating his readers on his iBook from his forest green recliner, O’Neill, 51, is still feeling the rush of the road, where tiny bumps that go by unnoticed in a car are almost as much of a hazard as the vehicles four to five times his size barreling past him in all directions and the top of his white helmet is the only solid surface between him and the elements.

Draped in a U.S. Army green fishtail parka, he’ll pull his sunglass-covered eyes off the road long enough to wave to the Metro bus drivers, who give a thumbs-up. But when he sees a big container truck barging up 15th Avenue like it owns the place, O’Neill is not ashamed to look for an escape route.

It’s just another day for a man and his Vespa.

Nearly four years have passed since O’Neill, a freelance writer and programming consultant, picked up his more modern-looking white Vespa ET4 and drove it home in the rain. But his blog begins on a sunny Saturday in early October – his first day with his PX 150.

To unfamiliar eyes, the Vespa is one odd vehicular duck (VespaUSA has PX 150 pictures and info). With an engine and two wheels, the Italian made bike looks like a moped or a motorcyle. Kind of. But it isn’t. Something about that U-shaped midsection and those tiny three-inch wide tires dispels any popular associations with easy riders and rebels. Vespas are like motorcycles’ well-behaved cousins.

“Americans find scooters friendlier,” said O’Neill, who once had a run-in with a Hell’s Angel and his knife as a 7-year-old in California. He looked at his bike. A bid bad scary dude just wouldn’t sit right on a Vespa. “I mean, how can this thing be intimidating?”

And thus the main purpose of O’Neill’s blog – to show that nothing about scooting is difficult or particularly dangerous. It’s actually a lot of fun.

Each entry is a slice of life with a Vespa. In a style that’s accessible both to Vespa fans and curious onlookers, it highlights the details that make every ride an adventure – from the bad pavement on Dexter Avenue to the way the long shadows cast by tall buildings on sunny mornings makes it hard to see. It’s got entries on how to change a tire and on his various group rides with friends and fellow members of the Vespa Club of Seattle, who coached him through his initial fear of two-wheel commuting back in 2003.

The Vespa was designed by an aeronautical engineer in the late 1940s and feels mechanical to ride. But that’s not a problem for a car guy like O’Neill. He likes the mechanical. He used to review models for the Northwest Sports Car News, which he edited, and remembers driving around in a BMW to many an undeserved but appreciated raised eyebrow.

“When I was three years old, I was one of those kids who could name every car on the road,” he said.

O’Neill’s PX 150 is closer to the original Vespa model than his ET4, which he traded in after 11,000 miles. Besides giving him a new way to feel 55 mph – his PX 150’s indicated top speed – scooting has repaired O’Neill’s strained relationship with the gas pump (a $100 gas bill is what made him get one in the first place) and the city’s otherwise monstrous curbside parking. Last month, it cost O’Neill all of $3.97 for a fill-up that can take him anywhere from 120 to 130 miles. And while every other car-bound Seattle Storm fan pays big to park at Key Arena, O’Neill just zips over right before the doors open and parks on the curb.

Once afraid of slick roads and fast traffic, he’ll ride anywhere in any condition but snow. He’s gone all over the city, throughout the state to Bellingham, Centralia, La Conner and back and as far north as a back-road trip to Vancouver, British Columbia.

The comments area the same everywhere he goes.

“If I had $5 for everyone who’s said to me, you rode all the way from Seattle on that thing? …”

Granted, it’s not easy to compete with SUVs and tractor trailers on a crowded road. And if you ask O’Neill, scooters don’t get enough respect from bigger, tougher occupants. That’s when his helmet-hidden grin disappears.

“There have been times I’ve really wanted to kick somebody’s door in, but I was afraid of falling over and damaging the bike,” he said.

He’ll admit it – he can’t get by on Vespa alone. And for days when the commute is too complicated, the trip too urgent or the rain and cold too much for his Kevlar foam and rain gear, he might leave his helmet at the door and take his 2005 pale green Ford Escape.

But then the wind just bounces off his windshield. No one waves. No one gazes. And the road is just a road.

As soon as the time is right, he’ll jump back on his Vespa, ready for another ride and another blogworthy story. He almost can’t help it.

“It’s a hoot,” said O’Neill. “You just have to go out there and go for it.”

When the road becomes your playground, who could?

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